On Friday (August 26), BCCI President Sourav Ganguly spoke out in favor of Virat Kohli, saying that the star batter might not score his 71st international century at the Asia Cup 2022 but he is confident that the right-hander will have a fantastic outing.
With India beginning their Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan on August 28 in Dubai, Kohli will resume his quest to end his century drought, which has already lasted for almost 3 years.
Ganguly admitted that the former captain needs to score runs in the Asia Cup not just for his team “but for himself.”
“He needs to score runs not only for India but for himself. Hopefully, it will be a good season for him. We all are confident that he’ll come back,” the BCCI chief said during an interaction.
“I’m sure like all of us are waiting for him to get that hundred, he’s working for it as well.”
“The chances of getting a hundred in a T20 is less because of the time. But, hopefully, this will be a big season for Kohli,” he added.
Virat has his style of scoring runs, the former cricketer noted, and he continued by arguing that if Kohli wasn't so great, he wouldn't have amassed as many runs as he has.
“He’s a very big player, there for a long time. I know he has his own formula to score runs. It’s not possible that players of his stature can’t have such a long lean patch, I know he will definitely score runs.
“If he was not a great player, he would not have scored so many runs for so long,” he maintained.
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India will play Pakistan at the same venue where their winning streak in World Cup matches against their arch-rivals ended last year in T20 World Cup.
The T20 World Cup defeat, according to Ganguly, won't significantly affect the results of the upcoming matches between the two nations.
“Since 1992 I’ve been following Indo-Pak matches closely. In these 30 years, we have lost only once. It’s not magic that you will always win. You lose once or twice, it’s not a big deal,” he said.
When asked about the pressure of playing Pakistan, he replied: “The ones who play regular cricket like in my playing days, it’s just another game where you have had to perform. I never played thinking ‘Pakistan, Pakistan’ only. Maybe during a World Cup semifinal, qualifier match that sort of emotions were there.
“If you take all that into consideration, I know the likes of Rohit (Sharma), KL Rahul, Virat, (Rishabh), Pant know how to handle the pressure.”
When asked whether the Babar Azam-led side would miss their star pacer Shaheen Afridi, Ganguly argued that the Men in Blue will be playing without Jasprit Bumrah.
“I don’t think one player makes a difference in any team. We also don’t have (Jasprit) Bumrah.”
Ganguly further said Hardik Pandya’s return has been a huge boost for India post IPL.
“Absolutely… He’s a huge addition to the side plus his bowling. Last year he was not fit to bowl, now he’s gone back to bowling. So he is a huge addition,” he said.
When asked who the favorites were to win the Asia Cup, he responded, “No team is a favorite in the T20 format. Did anyone think of Gujarat winning the IPL? It’s a different format altogether. You have so little time to recover.”
After the 50-year-old’s term as BCCI president ends in September, a Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice DY Chandrachud will rule on the Board's request for a change to the six-year cooling-off period.
“It’s not in my hands. I don’t know, whatever will be asked will be asked. We will see,” he said when asked if he wishes to continue after his term is over.
The former cricketer-turned-administrator expressed his delight at Bhaichung Bhutia and Kalyan Chaubey, two former players, running for the presidency of the All India Football Federations (AIFF) in the upcoming elections.
“It’s always good when you have sportspersons coming to the administration. It has to happen because they have far better knowledge of the game. It’s very good that Kalyan Chaubey and Bhaichung Bhutia are fighting for the AIFF top post,” he concluded.
(PTI INPUTS)
